Sandonato's Facebook Alias
Just a Backwards Attempt?

This man in the photo above says his name is Vinnie Otanodnas and that he is chairman of the City of Niagara Falls Republican Party. He is in reality Vinnie Sandonato.

Sometimes, Niagara Falls politics is just weird. Most of the time really.

If you don't believe it, turn your computer on and go to Facebook. Type in Niagara Falls Republican City Committee and you'll see a frequent poster who goes by the name of Vinnie Otanodnas, who is, in fact, listed as the chairman of the city Republican party.

His posts are brief and fairly innocuous, partisan pitches for this or that Republican candidate or cause. But if you click on his picture you'll see he looks strangely familiar.

It's not Vinnie Otanodnas at all, it's former county Legislator and city Council candidate Vincent Sandonato!

Otanodnas is of course Sandonato spelled backwards.

Sandonato, 28, was a rising star in the county GOP when he abruptly resigned from the county Legislature after being accepted into law school in 2011 after serving two years. In 2013, he entered the Niagara Falls City Council race. He finished fourth in a crowded field of seven candidates.

Why in the world would Sandonato, a public figure of some prominence in Niagara County, a chair of the city Republican party that presumably wants people to take seriously, hide behind a rather childish alias in his Facebook postings?

Sandonato also has a Facebook page with his name spelled correctly, but somehow prefers to use the backwards-spelled name for official use for the city Republican party.

Which doesn't say much about the gravity of the city party

The rumor mill is, as always, running rampant with speculation. Some say he believes he's being stalked by a woman, identified in some accounts as a palm reader, and doesn't want her to know who he is and where he lives.

Whether that's true or not is unknown, but one thing is certain: For Niagara Falls residents who've complained for years that politics here is ass backwards, Sandonato – or Otanodnas, if you will, has finally provided living proof.